Iran Parliament Commission to Discuss Plights of Myanmar Muslims

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission plans to discuss the issue of the massacre of Muslims in the Buddhist-majority country of Myanmar, senior lawmaker said on Friday.

The issue was announced by Morteza Saffari Natanzi, a member of Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission.

Pointing to global bodies' inaction on the developments in Myanmar, Saffari Natanzi said, “The international circles' silence on ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Myanmar has better unveiled their racist face to public opinion."

He then added that the massacre is "a portrait of shame" for supporters of terrorists and the so-called advocates of human rights.

He said that “such incidents in the 21st century is regrettable and shocking.”

Iranian parliament slammed the developments in Myanmar from the beginning and the Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said on Thursday that he would assign the chairman of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission the job of forming a committee to take the necessary parliamentary measures to put an immediate halt to the anti-Muslim crimes in the Buddhist majority country.

The Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar have long faced severe discrimination and were the targets of violence in 2012 that killed hundreds and drove about 140,000 people from their homes to camps for the internally displaced.

Nearly 150,000 Muslims have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh in less than two weeks, officials said in September.

In a rare letter to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern that the violence in Rakhine could spiral into a “humanitarian catastrophe”.

The Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) said on Tuesday that the persecution is backed by the government, elements among the country's Buddhist monks and ultra-nationalist civilian groups.